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Hacking B&Q's virtual queue

5.00 star(s)
Their website is ripe for hacking. Recent penetration test confirmed it.

This is how bad their IT systems are: It is not technically possible for the back-end of ScrewFix (and the same part used within the B&Q trade online section) to limit the number of items someone purchases.

It states a limit of 5 masks per person per order, yet if you add 500 it will allow you to pay for them. They then - I tulip you not - are only able to refund the other 495 if you go into the ScrewFix store, pick up your 5, from which they can then re-add them to their stock again centrally. From which they then must send them back to central distribution via lorry before they are then added to the system again.

That's how poor they are. They don't invest in staff or their IT systems. The modern British way.
 
Their website is ripe for hacking. Recent penetration test confirmed it.

This is how bad their IT systems are: It is not technically possible for the back-end of ScrewFix (and the same part used within the B&Q trade online section) to limit the number of items someone purchases.

It states a limit of 5 masks per person per order, yet if you add 500 it will allow you to pay for them. They then - I tulip you not - are only able to refund the other 495 if you go into the ScrewFix store, pick up your 5, from which they can then re-add them to their stock again centrally. From which they then must send them back to central distribution via lorry before they are then added to the system again.

That's how poor they are. They don't invest in staff or their IT systems. The modern British way.

Any decent developer will blame the requirements specification for this glaring omission :)
 
FYI - B&Q Stores are now open

I got a much quicker delivery time from Longacres and Wickes for my Garden Compost / Soil supplies btw.

Their website is ripe for hacking. Recent penetration test confirmed it.

This is how bad their IT systems are: It is not technically possible for the back-end of ScrewFix (and the same part used within the B&Q trade online section) to limit the number of items someone purchases.

It states a limit of 5 masks per person per order, yet if you add 500 it will allow you to pay for them. They then - I tulip you not - are only able to refund the other 495 if you go into the ScrewFix store, pick up your 5, from which they can then re-add them to their stock again centrally. From which they then must send them back to central distribution via lorry before they are then added to the system again.

That's how poor they are. They don't invest in staff or their IT systems. The modern British way.
Seems like a good way to punish people trying to abuse the system... "oh we're sorry, well we have the money until you come in to sort it out" :)

B&Q isn't really an online store so I can give them some slack, Screwfix really is though. Their online/in-store purchases also run on separate accounts too. So if you buy something you have to remember which method in order to find it, etc.
 

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